MASON COUNTY, Ky. (LEX 18) — A Mason County family is turning down offers of nearly $8 million for their farmland as part of a Fortune 100 company's proposed billion-dollar hyper scale data center project.
Andy Grosser and his father, Timothy, raise cattle on rolling pastures along KY 3056 (Germantown Road), where they've been offered $35,000 per acre. The offer came in March from a group representing the data center development.
Covering Kentucky
Mason County debates billion-dollar data center project
"They stressed that time was of the essence and they wanted responses really fast, like within the next five days," Grosser said.
Despite the substantial financial offer, the Grossers' have no intention of selling.
"We do not want to sell," Grosser said. "The farm is my dad's and it means everything to him."
The proposed data center would be located in the Big Pond Pike area, raising concerns among residents about the environmental and quality-of-life impacts.
"Everybody that lives out here is fond of the landscape," Grosser said. "They're gonna be stuck hearing it seeing it smelling it."
Dr. David Hein, chair of pharmacology at the University of Louisville, has studied the potential regional impacts of the project.
"What I've tried to bring to the conversation is the regional impact that this can have on the air quality which effects people in the entire region," Hein said.
Tyler McHugh, economic development director for the Maysville-Mason County Industrial Development Authority, expressed confidence about noise concerns in October.
"I feel very good specifically about the noise piece," McHugh said. "I think the nearest resident will be three quarters of a mile away when it's all said and done."
Grosser believes the county has other industrial areas that could accommodate the data center without displacing farming families.
"If we feel like this thing needs to come here, make sure that everything is done right," Grosser said.
The Mason County Joint Planning Commission will hold special meetings next Tuesday and Wednesday, during which the public will have a chance to comment on the proposal.
